Of Fathers and Princesses
by CutieBay
Summary: Young Leia doesn't want to be replaced. Anakin tries to set to rest her fears. AU Father-Daughter Story


**_Author's Note:_**

 **I wrote something? I wrote something! I can't believe it either!**

 **Anyway,about this story...it's very much AU. Anakin never fell to the Dark side but he did defeat Palpatine and he did have to give up his title as a Jedi after some... _things_ came to light. The small family also relocated to Naboo after the scandal hit. So, I guess he's just a regular old space husband and father, which I personally find endlessly amusing. Also, I'll be the first to admit I adore father/daughter bonding stories, and firmly believe if things had been different in canon Leia would have been _such_ a spoiled daddy's girl.**

* * *

 **OF FATHERS AND PRINCESSES**

 **•** **•** **•**

 _ **Location:** _

_The planet Naboo, on the outskirts of Theed_

 _the Skywalker Residence_

 ** _Time:_**

 _Almost seven years after the downfall of Darth Sidious_

 **•** **•** **•**

He didn't dream much anymore, but when he did dream it was always…odd. Yet he wasn't complaining. He would always take the occasionally odd dream over the distressingly horrific one.

This time, though he was unconscious he _knew_ he was dreaming because he was fairly certain he was not and had never really been a bantha. In this current dream he was. He came complete with big horns and woolly, long hair.

His unseen rider atop of him was petting him gently, almost lovingly. Like one would pet a puppy or something less ugly and smelly and ornery. It was then Anakin decided having weird dreams weren't always an unpleasant, trippy ordeal. In fact he rather liked being a bantha. It beat paying bills and worrying about –

 _- **SMACK** -_

Blue eyes shot open to find himself back in reality; back in his stiff, cramped human body.

"Where am I?" He asked dazedly as he blinked hard, trying to push the haze of sleep from his eyes. He had an awful crook in his neck, he realized quickly, and he wasn't in his bed, and he didn't sense Padme by his side. Before he could become nervous his senses did notice someone else. Someone so lightweight she was barely there.

With his eyes adjusting to the dark he made out the blurry outline of the little person who was sitting with an air of undeniable anxiety on his chest. Though he couldn't make out those brown eyes he was sure she was peering down at him with them.

"Leia," he breathed a relaxed sigh before sitting up, forgoing the force and began fumbling blindly with the lamp light that was located just to the left of the sofa. He had recalled falling asleep on the sofa the previous night while watching podracing on the HoloVid screen. He assumed it was now early morning the next day judging by the dim, pale light peeking through the living room curtains.

Yawning and stretching, wondering exactly what time it was, "Why did you _hit_ me?" he asked with no real annoyance in his voice.

"I didn't want to. I just couldn't wake you up," she said apologetically.

"So you decided to smack me awake?" Anakin teased, completely roused from his slumber now. To his surprise his normally cheery, and often more times than not, fiery little girl did not retort anything amusing back, instead she looked steadily past him with a heavy gaze.

Instantly he was worried. "What's wrong?" he asked, and he was honestly dreading the answer. Leia was only lacking a couple months from being seven, but she already had an immense talent for finding herself in the biggest messes that not even her rambunctious twin could compete with her skill.

He didn't know what to expect, but surely it wouldn't be good.

"I'm scared," she sniffed. He could now see she was trying her best to hold in her tears – always the strong one, she was.

"Scared about what?" Anakin asked gently, just like Padme had taught him. Had he not been schooled by Padme on how to handle these situations he would have went off in a torrid of rapidly firing question, the first one being an alarmed ' _Are you hurt_?' followed by the much more dreaded ' _Did someone hurt you?_ ' which would have surely scared the child even more.

Burying her face into his night robe, "The baby," she mumbled, her voice a bit muffled.

 _The baby?_ "The baby? _"_ His mind whirled to his unborn daughter or son resting in his wife's stomach a few rooms over. Had Leia had a vision for the Force? Had she –

"What if it's a girl?" Leia cut off his inner questionings by asking with a long whine and tears now freely but silently running down her cherubic face.

Confused and worried himself, Anakin tried to push his own feelings aside and remain calm. Wiping his daughter's steady tears with his thumb softly Anakin asked, "You don't want a little sister?"

With lighting speed and what seemed to be a bit of pent up anger Leia nearly screamed an assured "No!"

"And why not?" Anakin pressed, suddenly feeling like he was starting to understand what was going on.

"Because…" Leia grumbled, again she buried her reddening face into his night robe. White knuckled fingers locked around the back of his neck. She stayed put like that for a moment or two, refusing to meet her father's gaze or say anymore.

"Leia, sweetheart. Why don't you want a little sister?"

At the mere mention of a female sibling Leia's posture went even more rigid and she attempted to hide her soaking wet face even further in the fabrics her father wore.

Letting out a deep sigh, Anakin placed his large hands on the small of his little daughter's back and rubbed soothing circles there. He was doing his best to calm her and coax her into telling him. He figured by now he had a good hunch, but he still wanted her to confide in him. "You can tell me, Princess."

And then, for reasons unknown to Anakin, that completely broke the dam. The up until then silent weeping girl let out a piercing, pathetic wail of utter sorrow as she began to cry in earnest. She clung to her father as if her life depended on it as her so small body shook from her sobs.

"Ssshsssh," Anakin tried, now in panic mode. He had no idea what he had said, and he hated to see his daughter in tears, and he definitely didn't want to wake up Padme or Luke who both needed their rest. "Leia, what's wrong…" he begged as he cradled her head against his larger body.

The scene continued on for a bit, but eventually Leia grew tired much like small children tend to do after such a fierce bout of crying, and her caterwauling tapered off to whimpers, then to small hiccups. Her pretty brown doe-like eyes were red and puffy when she finally looked up at her father, at last ready to confess what was bothering her so.

"If it's a girl…" her lip trembled and she bit down on it in an attempt to steady it and her emotions, "then I won't be the Princess anymore."

If Anakin hadn't been worried he'd offend his child he would have laughed in relief. That's what had set her off? he mused without letting any of his humor show on his face. He knew his daughter. He'd have to take this as seriously as she did if he wanted to ease her mind.

"Oh Leia, you – "

"If it's a girl," she continued aimlessly, blinking back fresh tears. "If it's a girl then I won't be your Princess anymore." She looked genuinely distressed and grimaced at the thought as she wiped her still moist eyes with the back of her tiny hand.

"You'll always be my Princess." Anakin said with not a single shred of doubt and so much sincerity. "Even if your mother and I have a thousand other daughters." He couldn't help but chuckle despite himself at seeing Leia turn pale at his comment.

Regaining some of her composure after highly doubting she'd have to worry about a _thousand_ little sisters, "But when mommy has the baby you might have another Princess. One day maybe even more than that." Leia sadly noted, far too knowing for her age.

Anakin nodded, there was no need to lie, he decided. Anyway, Leia was an intelligent, perspective little thing. She was like her mother - she could easily see through his falsehoods, so there was no need in trying.

Leia was right, though. If Padme gave birth to another daughter then that child too would be a precious Princess in his eyes. "Yeah," he said carefully, "but you'll always be the _First_ Princess."

Still frowning, Leia became silent for a moment as she mulled over his words, before asking curiously, "What does a First Princess do?"

Thinking quickly, "Well, for one they tell the smaller Princesses what to do and not to do." The moment he saw Leia's eyes gleam almost malevolently he regretted his words. Obi-Wan jokingly swore that his former Padawan's daughter had a Sith heart. "In the nicest, most sisterly way possible!" He added as fast as he could in an attempt to right his grave mistake.

The power-hungry look retreated slowly from her gaze and again Leia fell silent.

Eventually she nodded though her body still seemed slightly tense. "OK, I guess that's not _too_ bad, then." She admitted with a roll of her shoulders. Anakin smiled at her warmly. A smile he reserved specifically for her. Leia returned in kind with her own toothy grin, but was suddenly struck with a thought.

Her face turned serious in an instant. " _ **But**_ ," she spoke in a warning tone as she pointed a stern finger at her father's chest, incredibly close to where his heart lay beneath his skin and ribs. Effortlessly she had become all business. "You've got to _promise me_ , daddy."

 _Anything_. "Promise what?" he asked, unsure of what she meant.

With intense eyes that reminded him so much of his own despite sharing Padme's warmth and shape, "You've got to promise me that I'll _always_ be a Princess. Forever."

 _Always_. And this vow was no issue for him. Knowing he could easily keep this promise, Anakin hugged his daughter tightly and kissed her on the cheek causing her to giggle sweetly into his ear. "You could live to be a million and seventy-two years old and you would _still_ be my perfect little Princess, your worshipfulness."

 **•** **•** **•**

* * *

 _ **Ending Author's Note:**_

 **I hoped you enjoyed, and if you could kindly review it would mean so much.**

 **Oh, and in my head the unborn baby is a little boy.** **Which, of course, made Leia very happy.**

 **I might write more stories in this AU, with Leia and Anakin as a central focus. Iounno. This was unexpectedly fun, though.**


End file.
